WOODSBORO – Once upon a time, Disneyland in Yesterland displayed the House of the Future.

It was made of plastics, had four wings shaped like a clover, synthetic furniture, a microwave (wow!), other fixtures and a large TV on the wall (back then, it didn’t work).

When the exhibit became outdated, the House of the Future was put under the wrecking ball in 1967 – it had a 10-year life. But that ball bounced off the structure. Workers had to go in with hacksaws and dismantled the thing piece by piece.

A couple of years after the House of the Future was built in Yesterland, another house of the future was built in Woodsboro on Locke Street. That was in 1959-60.

Layton and Louise Brown built the house. They lived in a small structure on top of the garage while the main house with its three-car garage was being built.

Once the house was built, the Browns tore the garage down that the little house was on top of. They left the little house (now on the ground) for servants’ quarters.

“He was an oil tycoon and money was no object,” said Kenneth Wiginton, who bought the house in August from the sole remaining relative of the Browns – Judith Staples.

After the Browns passed away, the house was inherited by great nieces and nephews.

“(Layton) built it to be a party house for entertaining,” Wiginton said.

Wiginton said he’s heard that the house was featured in an architectural magazine in the 1960s, but in his research, he has not been able to find the write-up.

“Oil men, lawyers and ranchers came over for parties on Saturday night,” he said.

Wiginton said the house is “U” shaped and has 13 outside walls.

“The house was designed that way to catch the wind,” he said.

And anywhere you stand in the house, a soft breeze cools the rooms as long as the windows are open.